Joanne Rakoff

Joanna Rakoff wasn’t a Salinger nut when she snagged a job as assistant in the literary agency that represented the world famous author. In fact, in the early days when she was meticulously briefed on all things Jerry, as he was known, she thought their celebrity writer was Jerry Seinfeld. As My Salinger Year, her clever and frequently very funny memoir, reveals, she was desperate to be part of the seemingly glamorous world of publishing. Despite being a post grad she was so keen to get her toe in the door she took the first job offered, working for peanuts as a secretary. Much of her time was spent producing and amending novel-length contracts on an ancient manual typewriter and fending off fans.

Quote of the day

“I think a lot of people have been, secretly perhaps, reading and loving children’s books in adulthood for a long time. You are missing a wealth of treasures.. To miss out on something so rich, strange, varied and enticing in adulthood, just out of embarrassment or perhaps because it hasn’t occurred to you, seems such a waste. There is such joy to be had ...Go to children’s fiction to see the world with double eyes: your own, and those of your childhood self,"